I swear, I'm not usually this clumsy!
by TheStormyGriffin
Summary: Soulmate AU. Lukas has been through tons of scrapes and bruises, all thanks to that blundering soulmate of his. A quick trip to the local coffee shop turns into a bump and spilled coffee and a cute soulmate? Ch 2: Emil has a horribly irresponsible brother and a fateful run in at the mall with his crush yields... interesting results.
1. Chapter 1

Matthias was really sorry for him or her.

In a world where you felt the pain your soulmate feels, whoever had Matthias as their soulmate was very unlucky.

That would be Lukas Bondevik. Lukas Bondevik had learned at a young age, just like everyone else, that those bruises and scrapes that magically appeared were because of one's soulmate. Whatever happened to your soulmate happened to yourself. For instance, if one scraped their elbow, the scratch would appear on both them and their soulmate. But once you met your soulmate and touched for the first time, the injuries stop happening.

Ever since Lukas could remember, he had always had some kind of pain on him, be it a bruise on his knee, or a scalded tongue from drinking something that was too hot. Lukas had gotten used to it, as everyone did, but it was still an unpleasant surprise sometimes to feel a sharp pain in his ankle or some other injury. It could be worse, reasoned Lukas to himself. His little brother, Emil, had a pet puffin and when they were younger, Emil had been bitten multiple times by the bad tempered bird. Whoever was Emil's soulmate must have wondered how their soulmate managed to get so many cuts on their fingers. Lukas suspected it was that quiet asian kid with the odd eyebrow because he was always wearing gloves that were bulky like they covered band aids. Lukas himself was not a very accident prone person, only getting the occasional bump. But people always assumed he was because of the band aides and bruises he always seemed to have somewhere. It was a good thing they lived in a relatively cold place where no one would think twice if he wore sweaters and long sleeves all year long.

Lukas knew it was going to be a bad day when he woke up with not just one, but two injuries. His toe throbbed like it had been stubbed and spikes of pain shot through him when he gingerly touched a cut on his fingertip he got yesterday. He gritted his teeth and swung his legs out of bed, touching his feet to the cold wood floor when he felt his foot throb, like someone had stepped on something familiarly cube shaped... Stretching his back, he made his way downstairs to start the coffee maker, a regular morning ritual for him. The stairs creaked as he made his way down and into the kitchen. Swinging open the cupboard, he took out the coffee powder bag, which seemed very light. He turned to the fridge where a post-it note said in his little brother's neat scrawl, 'We're out of coffee. Sorry'. Grumbling to himself, he went back upstairs to freshen up. He would have to go to the coffee shop on the corner to get his usual caffeine, thanks to Emil.

When he was done, he knocked on the closed door to Emil's room.

"Emil," he called out.

A muffled grunt and a squawk answered from the room.

"I'm going to get coffee. I'll be back soon," he carried on, and then left the house without further ado, being sure to lock the door behind him as he went.

A short walk later, Lukas entered the coffee shop, pushing open the door with a tinkle and breathing in the coffee laced air, allowing his shoulders to relax at the familiar scent of brewing coffee. The door behind him swung shut with a thud and a small "ow...".

Wait.

Doors don't talk…?

And suddenly he felt the pain. Right in the middle of his forehead, the first angry tendrils of pain flashing through him. Lukas made sure to keep his face blank, emotionless, like he had trained himself to do when he was younger, annoyed at the concerned questions that always came up. Resisting the temptation to look behind him, he ordered his coffee as usual and denied an ice pack for his forehead ('Are you sure sir? It looks very pink..'). After giving his name, he moved to the side to wait for the coffee. The next customer in line was his soul mate.

 _His soul mate._

His soul mate was a blonde with spiky gelled hair that added a few inches to his height (not that it needed any help). And as Lukas listened to him order a (hey! it was his soulmate, after all) he confirmed that it was the same voice that had said 'ow' earlier. He leaned in when the cashier asked for his name, which Lukas' soulmate gave cheerfully. "Mathias," he had said with a happy grin. The cashier gave him a smile back and said his order would be ready in a few minutes. Lukas moved away quickly as to not look like he was listening in (even if he was).

One of the employees called his name for his coffee, and Lukas went to get it, still in a daze. He had (sorta) met his soulmate, something he had thought of for a long time. He had imagined mostly scolding him for being so clumsy all the time, truth be told. Especially when there was a particularly painful injury. But he didn't think he would be so… Attractive? Lovable? Tall? (He had always imagined himself towering over them while telling them off for getting _so many injuries_.)

Still lost in thought, he forgot to get a cap for the scalding hot drink and turned around too swiftly. The burning coffee on his left hand made him hiss in pain, and nearby, Matthias yelped, even though none of the liquid had landed on him.

"Aww man, are you okay?" Matthias asked him anxiously, clutching a fist full of napkins he swiped from a nearby table. For the first time, Lukas got a good look at his face, almost childlike but with features that looked like they belonged on a magazine, complete with two round blue orbs staring at him concernedly. Swiftly, Lukas took the napkins and used them to try to salvage his sweater sleeve.

"I'm fine," answered Lukas cooly. Of course, the first time his soulmate sees him and he spills coffee all over himself. _Nice one, Lukas,_ he thinks sarcastically. Emil was going to have a field day when he heard of this.

"Are you sure?" pressed Matthias, scooting closer to Lukas with more napkins.

"I'm _fine,_ " Lukas repeated insistently, "I just need to put cold water on it." He knows that from experience. He drags Matthias with him to the bathroom of the coffee shop, taking care to grab his upper left arm.

"So…. Is there a reason you dragged me with you to the bathroom?" Matthias asks as he watches Lukas run his left hand under the faucet.

Lukas looks back at him and gives him a look like 'are you really this thick you idiot?' and says, "You should put water on your hand, too."

This makes Matthias' face light up with recognition. "Oh yeah, some of your coffee got on me!"

Lukas really, really _really_ wants to facepalm, but both of his hands are wet. So he settles for a scathing "Your hand isn't even wet, idiot."

"Oh. Umm…"

"We're _soulmates,_ " Lukas says, waiting for that to sink in.

Instead, Matthias holds his hands up in a defensive move. "Woah, hey, okay, I know I'm good looking and all and I just helped you, but I'm just being nice!"

Lukas takes a deep placating breath. Why did his soulmate have to be _so_ dense?

"The day before yesterday," he says instead of insults, "you got a papercut on your right pinky finger."

Matthias' brows scrunch up and he holds his pinkies up to eye level, one of them adorned with a silly kid band-aide. "Wait…" he starts.

"Today," Lukas plows on, not letting any frustration leak into his voice, "you stubbed your toe. And you stepped on a _lego_."

He winced as Lukas listed off the past injuries, and said sheepishly, "Yeah…. I have a lot of legos. But, I mean, Legos aren't _that_ bad."

Lukas' eye twitched. "Not that bad?" he asked in a low voice.

Matthias' eyes widened. "Um no," he hastily amended, "they're horrible. Really, really, bad. They're… the bane of our existence?"

When he went back to tending to the burn, Matthias let out the breath he was holding and tried to make small talk.

"So." he started. "I guess we're soul mates now?"

Lukas hummed in confirmation as he turned off the tap and inspected his hand. Deeming it fine, he grabbed Matthias' hand and dragged him over to the sink to rinse it with water. "Idiot," he grumbled under his breath, "why are you so clumsy all the time?"

He grinned. "I wasn't the one who spilled coffee all over myself when I saw my soulmate for the first time. Of course, I don't blame you. I am pretty attractive." He waggled his eyes at his reflection in the mirror hanging above the sink.

"You are so full of yourself. And you were the one who walked into a door."

"Sorry about that."

"Does it happen that often?" Lukas asked conversationally, letting go of Matthias' hand so they could stand face to face.

"Does what happen often? Me bumping into doors? Um well there was that time-"

"No, people trying to convince you that you're soulmates," he interrupted, going back to Matthias' immediate defense in response to his original declaration.

"Hm… Sometimes."

"Like who?" Lukas asked, trying to keep his voice flat. He wasn't curious, just… trying to make small talk.

"Uh there was this lady who cornered me in this alley way one time, but most of them aren't that… creepy."

Lukas said sharply, "Most of them?"

"Yeah, they see me on ads and stuff and they're like 'OMG!'" Matthias imitated in a falsetto, "'I love you! We're, like, totally soulmates!'"

"You do ads?"

"Yeah, that's how I make my living."

"Ads… for what?"

"Clothes mostly, from this popular clothing line…Haha yeah, the modeling company hates it when I show up to photo shoots with bruises and stuff, so they have to cake on makeup and use photoshop all the time."

That explained it. After getting a better look at Matthias, he recognized him from a magazine that he had found Emil looking at the other day in the supermarket.

"So, what do you do?" Matthias asked as they left the bathroom. They sat down at an empty table that the flow of people from earlier had vacated.

"I play in a symphony orchestra. Hey," he flagged down a waitress, "Can I have a coffee? Black. Thanks."

Matthias wrinkled his nose in confusion. "How do you even drink that stuff? Seriously," he said, shuddering in disgust.

"I just do. And I'm guessing you drink something abnormally sweet that is designed to give you cavities?" replied back Lukas teasingly.

"It tastes good though!" and they both laughed at the childish response.

Hours later, Lukas finally noticed the darkening sky outside as he heard the person working the counter bidding one of the few customers that had come at the late hour goodbye. He took out his phone hurriedly and checked the time. 7:38, it read in bright white letters against his background picture of a scenic view of Norway he took last summer. There were also a couple texts from Emil, most of them saying something along the lines of, "Why aren't you home yet? I hope there's a good reason". Casting an apologetic glance at Matthias, who was sipping at a coffee that must have gone cold ages ago, he gently touched his hand that was resting on the coffee table. Startled at the sudden contact, Matthias cast him a curious look. "Something wrong?"

"It's getting late... Can I have your number?"

With a mischievous smirk, he said, "You're going to have to try harder than that!"

Lukas merely looked back at him with impassive eyes, the smallest of smiles quirking his lips. His phone buzzed again, its screen lighting up to show another message from Emil. "For not replying to all my messages and ditching me at the mall without a ride, you better be bleeding to death in an alley way somewhere."

Matthias read it over the table. "Harsh," he commented as he rummaged around in his designer jeans to pull out his phone.

Lukas sent a quick text back, telling Emil he would be back soon. After exchanging numbers, Lukas stood to go. Matthias smiled at him warmly. "Be sure to stay in contact! I hope we can do this again soon." he added the last part almost bashfully, like a schoolgirl with a crush on a classmate.

"Of course." Then he left the coffee shop, the bell tinkling cheerfully after him, thinking about Matthias' blue eyes crinkling in laughter and not really feeling concerned about the scolding his brother was sure to give him when he got home.


	2. Chapter 2

Emil sighed and plopped down on a nearby bench that was conveniently devoid of people. His feet ached like crazy and he felt like he could feel some blisters forming just as he sat there, slumping and disregarding all of Lukas' warnings about 'bad posture' and 'back problems'. Getting his phone out, he fiddled around with it, checking texts for the umpteenth time in the past hour. Lukas was always punctual, which was good for Emil because Emil couldn't drive yet so if he wanted to go places, he had to get a ride from his older brother. But... Emil looked at his phone again, frowning, as he absentmindedly fiddled with the puffin charm that dangled from his phone. Emil had told Lukas to pick him up at 6:30.

But it was already 6:57, and there was no sign of Lukas in the parking lot. It wasn't like Emil had many options except wait it out, since he lived quite far away from the mall he was currently loitering at. Originally, he had come to buy a new pair of shoes he had seen, but when he saw the price tag at the store, he immediately knew he wouldn't be buying them anytime soon. How could a pair of shoes cost so much? Sure, they were good looking, but...

After wandering out of the shoe store, disappointed, he went over to the candy store, which had his favorite candies ever: licorice. Not the fake, garnish and sweet American ones, the ones from Iceland. For some reason, Emil loved the smelly candies from Iceland, and always bought them. They tasted delicious! To him. At least Emil used that to his advantage, because it meant no one would ever want to steal them from him. He bought more than usual, because he felt like he could use a pick me up after he had gotten so pumped up for those shoes, only to have the price tag slam the air out of him.

He had told Lukas to pick him up at 6:30, giving him plenty of time, half an hour, to get the shoes and pay for them. Seeing as he had some time to kill, he went over to the video game store to see if they had any good games out. It was pretty busy in the mall, with the dinner rush, so it made sense that the video game store was crowded. However, even with all the people packed in there, he still managed to spot him.  
With a small 'eep!' he quickly hid behind a nearby display announcing the newest RPG game.

It was Leon Wang, a classmate from school. But that wasn't why Emil had hid. No, Emil had hid because he might have had a teensy- tiny crush on him?

I mean, but who could blame him, right? With those smoldering dark brown, sometimes amber in the sunlight, eyes and perfectly swept shiny black hair that never seemed to be out of place no matter what he did to it. Smug bastard probably knew how attractive he was and purposely flaunted just to spite him, thought Emil churlishly as he stood behind the display.

Suddenly, there was a warm hand on Emil's shoulder, causing him to yelp (just a tiny bit, you would too!) and immediately jumped away from the stranger, his arms tensed up, like he was ready to fight back (no he wasn't, he was about as coordinated as a headless chicken, but this person didn't know that, did they?).

Familiar amber eyes blinked at him. "Hey, I thought it was you, Emil," Leon said, giving him a small half smile that did not make Emil's knees knock together or weaken he was not some shoujo school girl who swooned over sempai but dang 10 / 10 woohoo sign me up for that-

Anyways

"Oh, hey Leon," Emil responded, trying to sound indifferent, like he always ran into schoolmates at the mall and tried to avoid them by hiding behind signs of a masked man ferociously gunning down a bloody zombie and the words 'DON'T LET THE ZOMBIES WIN'. "So," he continued awkwardly. "What are you... doing here?" He winced inwardly. Stupid, stupid, stupid! What kind of question was that? Leon was school famous as the best video game player to ever walk the halls. _Of course_ he was looking at the video games. They were, after all, in a video game store.

Apparently oblivious to Emil's inner turmoil, Leon responded offhandedly, "I was just checking out some of the new video games, to see if any are interesting. Oh, I'm also here with my cousin." He waved vaguely behind him to the rest of the people milling about the store, and as if on cue, a boy about their age jumped up and down, his black hair bobbing as he wove his way through the crowds to make his way towards where Emil and Leon stood by the zombie poster. He clutched in one hand a video game, which he excitedly waved back and forth to get their attention (as if he didn't have their attention already. And half the store's. Because it's actually pretty entertaining to watch this kid jump up and down like he had ants in his pants.)

"Hey hey hey!" he shouted excitedly. Leon looked like he was suppressing a long suffering sigh. The other kid finally made his way to their side and clamped a hand on Leon's shoulder. "Do you have this one?" he exclaimed, looking at Leon.

Leon took one glance at it before saying in a bored tone, "Yes."

"Sweet! Really? We should go play it later, it looks like tons of fun!" He finally swung his head in Emil's direction. "Who's that?" He asked bluntly, inspecting Emil who looked like he was trying to melt into the ground.

"That's a classmate of mine. From school," clarified Leon. He turned to Emil and said, "Emil, meet Yong Soo, my cousin. Yong Soo, meet Emil."

Throwing a cocky grin at Emil, he held out his hand for a handshake, which Emil took hesitantly. Yong then turned to Leon. "So this is the kid you wouldn't shut up abou-"  
"SHUT UP!"

After that, Emil wandered about the mall until his feet couldn't take it anymore. So he sat on the bench, texting Lukas (who was _not_ texting back, what could be more freaking important than his only family?) when Leon found him.

"Wow." a voice drawled from above his shoulder. Leon slurped his iced milk tea noisily as he read Emil's latest texts to Lukas.

Emil startled and sputtered, "What are you doing here? And don't you know it's rude to read other people's texts?"

Leon shrugged and tossed the empty drink into a trash can. "The old man's supposed to pick me up soon from here. Plus I got bored just hanging around in the video game store."

"Wait, weren't you with your cousin or something?"

A little chime came from Leon's pocket as if saying _yes, Leon was a little shit and ditched his cousin somewhere in this vast mall. I hope you know what you're getting into with your silly crush._ It was actually a text, chock full of typos, from Leon's older brother. Leon looked at it and typed a quick reply. Emil looked down at his own phone in his hand which still remained offensively dark with no new messages. He frowned at it as if that would magically make Lukas remember he had a younger brother who was _waiting_. Leon's dark golden eyes caught the face Emil was making and he said "Something wrong?"

Emil sighed a bit. "Yeah, I'm stuck at the mall since my brother," he glared at the phone even though it hadn't really done anything to him, "isn't here to pick me up and he's not responding. I guess I'm stuck here until he gets here, which could take a while."

There was a pause before Leon quirked his lips and said "Where do you live?"

Startled, Emil looked up at him. "What?"

"Do you want a ride or not? C'mon, an address would be nice." He held up his hand and shook the phone for emphasis.

Emil nodded quickly. "Right, address." He rattled off the familiar series of numbers and his street address automatically. Leon nodded, his shaggy dark brown hair moving with him as he bent his head over his phone. Emil took advantage of Leon not looking to not-so-discreetly pinch himself. The small sting of pain on his forearm made him confirm that no, this wasn't a dream.

Leon used a gloved hand to scratch at his sleeve as he said, "Alright, I told Yao that you needed a ride and he said sure."

"Ah, okay."

Leon got up from the bench and Emil did the same, making sure to grab his pouch of licorice as well as his phone. "Nice phone charm." said Leon, gesturing to the bird that dangled from Emil's phone. Emil couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. So he cautiously said, "Thanks."

The awkward silence stretched on.  
Emil internally screamed.  
Emil externally screamed.  
Emil eternally screamed.

"I have one. A real one, I mean." Emil said, mostly to break the silence.

"A real what?"

"A real puffin." Leon looked mildly interested at that. "Cool, what's its name?"

Emil really wished Leon hadn't asked that question. Of course he had asked _the_ question. Why did everyone want to know the bird's name? "It's Mr. Puffin." He finally admitted. At that, Leon laughed softly.

"Hey! I was 5 years old, cut me some slack!"

"So," Leon said after his laughing, "is Mr. Puffin a nice bird?"

"A nice bird?" Emil wrinkled his nose. "I wouldn't say that."

The brunette chuckled at that. "Yeah, I can tell. He likes to bite a _lot_ , doesn't he?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Okay, he was a bit... Nippy, but-"

"A bit? Emil, your hands are covered in scars!"

"OKAY maybe he really likes to bite." Emil looked self consciously down at his hands. He glanced over to Leon's hands, which were covered by their usual pair of worn, bulky gloves. "Hey," he blurted out, "why do you wear gloves all the time? It's not that cold here."

Leon raised his arm at an oncoming car to signal it. "Oh, looks. Yao's here already."

Emil trailed after him to the car. "That didn't answer my question," he muttered under his breath, frowning.

Yong Soo stuck his head out of the lowered passenger side window and yelled, "Are you guys coming or not?"

Once they got into the car, Emil saw Leon's older brother, Yao. Or… was it sister? Emil had been sure that Leon had said brother. Emil could only see the long ponytail that went over a shoulder before the driver turned around to look at Emil. He (she?) had the same striking amber eyes that glowed a little, like cat eyes. His voice, however, was not feminine, and the asian accent he had was very prominent when he said, "Are you Leon's friend?"

Emil gulped, though he didn't know why. It wasn't like he was meeting Leon's parents or anything but wait it wasn't like they were dating Leon was just offering him a ride they were just friends and he didn't even know why he was panicking-

Leon's voice cut through his increasingly frantic and impossible thoughts. "Yeah, his name is Emil."

The same eyes looked over him again before landing on his hands. "Those are a lot of scars." Yao said nonchalantly, turning around to start driving.

"Uh, yeah. I have a pet bird who… likes to bite. A lot."

"Hmm." was Yao's only response as they moved smoothly through the traffic. After a pause, he asked Leon, "What's his address again, Li Xiao?"

"I told you already, old man. Your memory's getting worse and worse I swear."

"Hey! Quit calling me that! I'm only in college, brat!"

"But you act so much like an old man you may as well be one."

Yong Soo's snorts of laughter that were barely contained made Yao fume and hit him on his shoulder. "Stop laughing!"

"But it's true!"

"Aiyah," Yao said grumpily, "I can never win with this family."  
Emil's lips quirked up. It was funny to watch them interact, teasing and laughing. A chime went off as someone got a text.

"That's your phone, Yao."

"Well, I can't check it while I'm driving."  
"Lemme see." Yong Soo said, leaning over and snatching it out of the cup holder that was between the driver's seat and the passenger seat. "I bet it was your Russian boyfriend."

"Nonsense, Ivan doesn't know how to text. Probably."

Yong Soo's eyes scanned the phone. "Aww, it's just Mei. She's asking if we're back." His nose wrinkled. "She probably just wants to chit chat with Leon, since she's back from Taiwan."

Leon looked up with interest. "Oh, was that today?"

Emil looked up too. Who was Mei? And why did she want to hang out with Leon? Wait, what if they were soulmates? He could feel his hyperactive imagination getting out of hand. Already picturing this faceless mystery girl hanging off of Leon's arm, he didn't really catch the rest of the conversation. Leon's voice floated back to him.

"... probably just doesn't hang out with you cause you're annoying."

"I'm not annoying!" was Yong Soo's heated response.

"Whose Mei?" The words escaped Emil's traitorous mouth before he could stop them.

Three heads simultaneously turned to look at him before Yao snapped his head back to the front.

"Oh, she's our cousin who goes to a university in Taiwan." Yong Soo chirped.

Ah. So that was it. It wasn't some girlfriend or a soulmate. He really needed to get his weird brain in control before jumping to random conclusions like that.

"Alright. Is this your house?" Yao's voice announced.

With a start, he turned to the window where, sure enough, was his house. He nodded and said, "Thanks for driving me." quietly.

"No problem." said Yao with a shrug. Emil slipped out of the car and made his way to the front door.

Yong Soo stuck his head out of the window again and yelled, "BYE EMIL!"

Emil turned back to see Leon, also waving. He smiled and waved back before turning around and unlocking the front door to let himself in.


End file.
